Top 72 HR Analytics Influencers - Part 4

Over the last three posts, I’ve published a three part series of what was initially 50 and is now 72 HR Analytics Influencers – see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. I’ve been overwhelmed by the response so thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read, comment, share and like.

As I suspected the growing interest in HR Analytics – evidenced again in the agenda of the recent HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas and HR Tech Europe conference in Amsterdam - and the absence of a list (I couldn’t find one anyway) compiling some of those who are driving this movement forward meant this series would prove to be a useful resource and provoke some discussion. Even better some of those already named have told me they have been contacted as a result with business opportunities. Every little helps as Tesco might say.

My original collection of 50 was never going to be definitive and I knew at the outset that I will have unknowingly omitted many influencers who should have been included. This has certainly proven to be the case – hence this fourth instalment making a round 72 - hey, who said data was perfect.

John Austin - Organisational Psychologist and CEO of Talegent, a provider of talent measurement solutions. John sold his previous business Talent Technologies to PreVisor (now CEB) in 2007. Follow on Twitter @JohnAAustin.

Laurie Bassi – Recommended by Salvatore Falletta (see below), Laurie is CEO of McBassi & Company whose raison d'être is to help organisations maximise their return on people by linking human capital metrics to future business results. Follow on Twitter @ljbassi.

Mark Berry – Mark has built the talent analytics function at ConAgra Foods from the ground up as this article describes. Follow on Twitter @s_markberry.

John Boudreau – One of the pioneers of HR analytics and measurement, John, a Professor at the University of Southern California, is recognised widely for breakthrough research on the bridge between superior human capital, talent and sustainable competitive advantage.

Marcus Champ – A regular contributor to the Measuring Human Capital LinkedIn Group, Marcus is a behavioural scientist with a passion for harnessing data to make better decisions and maximise the performance potential of organisations.

Salvatore Falletta - formerly led Intel’s HR research and analytics function, Sal now serves as the EVP/MD of the Organizational Intelligence Institute. He coined the concept of “HR intelligence” in 2000 and recently published the findings of The HR Analytics Project – the largest project to date in terms of number of participating companies (220 distinct Fortune 1000 & select global firms) and presents in the US & abroad on the topic.

Jac Fitz-enz - acknowledged as the father of human capital strategic analysis and measurement. He published the first human resources metrics in 1978 and later launched the discussion around “predictive analytics”.

Adam Grant – Professor of Management and Psychology at the Wharton School and author of the bestseller ‘Give and Take’.

Placid Jover – Recommended by a number of commentators, Placid leads HR Organisation, Performance and Analytics at consumer goods behemoth Unilever.

Michael Kennedy – the self-monikered ‘Analytics Evangelist’ works alongside fellow influencers Greta Roberts and Pasha Roberts (see Part 3) at Talent Analytics, one of the pioneering providers of predictive HR analytics. Follow on Twitter @TalentAnalytics.

Alec Levenson – an economist, Alec works with companies to optimise job and organisation performance and HR systems through the application of organisation design, job design, human capital analytics and strategic talent management.

John R Mattox – Director of Research at KnowledgeAdvisors, now part of CEB, John has created a number of predictive analytics models and recently co-authored ‘Predictive Analytics for Human Resources’ with Jac Fitz-enz (see above).

Alan Paling – Recommended by a couple of commentators, Alan is responsible for HR Analytics and MI for the Retail and Business Banking division of Barclays.

Gene Pease – CEO of Vestrics, a leading provider of predictive talent analytics, which was recognised by CIO Review Magazine as one of the Top 20 Most Promising Data Analytics Companies of 2013. Follow on Twitter @genepease7.

Michael Rosenbaum – CEO at Pegged Software which, as recently reported in the Washington Post, provides software that automates hiring decisions, and in doing so reduces turnover, hiring costs, and hiring time.

James Sesil – author of 2013’s Applying Advanced Analytics to HR Management Decisions, James is also developing state-of-the-art HR decision support software utilising the newest machine learning and AI technologies, which sounds riveting.

Naveen Seshardi – works closely with Ian O’Keefe (see Part 3) at Sears on driving analytical insights through personalisation of data to every employee using Gamification and HR Analytics to drive better engagement and increased productivity at work. Follow on Twitter @NaveenSesh.

Gene Tange – recommended by fellow influencer Kevin Wheeler, Gene is CEO at PearlHPS – a SaaS/Cloud enabled Predictive Analytics Platform that visually displays success probability for critical business initiatives 12 months in the future with an 80% accuracy claim.

Benjamin Taylor - Leads the data science team at HireVue and purveyor of very good (and very witty) blogs on cloud, predictive recruiting analytics and 'predicting the unpredictable'. Follow on Twitter @bentaylordata.

Heather Torres - Responsible for recruiting analytics at Facebook, having previously performed a similar role at AOL.

David Green – Last and definitely least - call it a bonus, if you like, to make a round number of 72. I enjoy writing and speaking on Talent Analytics and believe it is inevitable that HR will eventually be driven more by data than intuition. I guess that puts me in the optimist camp. Please feel free to connect on LinkedIn and follow me on Twitter @david_green_uk.

About the author

David is a Director at Cielo (formerly known as Pinstripe & Ochre House) and has worked with a number of organisations to design talent acquisition programmes that drive growth and competitive advantage. He speaks and writes on some of the key tenets driving the seismic change in the future of work.

David was a member of the Blog Squad at the HR Tech Europe conference in Amsterdam on 23-24 October. David will also be chairing the HR & Workforce Analytics Summit in London on 17-18 March 2015 and welcomes the opportunity to connect with you whilst you are there.You can contact David by email, LinkedIn or Twitter.

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